Posted on 07/25/2022 1:33:10 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Is $810 million worth $2?
That’s a good question, given it costs $2 to buy a Mega Millions lottery ticket that could pay off with an estimated $810 million prize — the nation’s fourth-largest jackpot — after the game’s next drawing Tuesday night.
ISN’T IT AN OBVIOUS QUESTION?
Not really.
To start with, your chance of winning the grand prize is minuscule, at one in 302.5 million. You have better odds of a smaller payoff, such as winning $1 million for matching five regular numbers but missing the Mega Ball.
STILL, A SHOT AT $810 MILLION SEEMS WORTH $2
Ah, but even if you somehow beat the odds you are not going to get $810 million.
First, that’s the amount for winners who take the annuity option, paid over 30 annual payments. But winners nearly always opt for cash, which for this drawing would pay out an estimated $470.1 million.
And then there are federal taxes, which will slice 37% off that cash prize, so that would leave less than $300 million.
SO, IS IT WORTH GAMBLING $2
If you have fun dreaming of a massive windfall that most likely won’t actually blow your way, buy a ticket. But if you need to watch your money, consider keeping the $2 in your wallet.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I met a guy that won >$100 million. I’ve played the same numbers regularly ever since. You never know...$2 is less than a half of gallon of milk/gas...
Lawrence on Office Space: “I’ll tell you what I’d do, man, two chicks at the same time, man.”
It’s a $3 ticket if you want the megapelier.
1) You can’t wi if you don’t play.
2) Somebody’s gotta win.
3) I’d take the annuity and wait for a GOP congress to cut taxes.
Sure...for a couple of bucks you can try your luck. If you win, it will be life changing.
I have certain rules about the lottery. It has to F-you level money. What qualifies is $300 million and up. If I win, the instant payout is about 1/3 of the face value, so we are talking $100 in my pocket.
You have to set limits on what you spend on such foolishness, and that is mine. I spend maybe $30-40 per year on lottery tickets because the jackpot doesn’t go over that magic number that often
The odds of winning even $100 on MegaMillions is 1 in 14,494.
That’s buying a MM ticket twice a week for over 139 years.
What people buy is the fantasy.
We must have been separated at birth. Just watched that awesome movie two nights ago! 🤘
Someone asked me once what I would do if I won the lottery.
I said, disappear.
A dollar for your dreams...
My financial plan includes winning the lottery.
I can only think of two ways to game the system.
1) Have someone on the inside that can skew the results in your favor.
2) Play based on the assumption that the lottery results are not truly random. This could happen in the old blown ball systems due the possibility that some balls had more friction than others and therefore were more likely to reoccur. Or it could happen in a computerized system if the Random Number generator is not truly random. Or one system had a problem in the programming where an entire range of numbers were excluded from the possible results.
You would have to look it up. It was a special case. Another group also figured it out and gamed the system on this same lottery game
The annuity is attractive if you are younger. Each annual payment is 5% larger than the previous year. The only gamble you’re taking after that is Democrats raising taxes. And it reduces how much you get if you share it with some family members.
The lump sum is attractive for older folks (which is why it’s typically taken) and has the bonus of paying out the taxes lump sum to Uncle Sam and it’s done for life.
At 62 I’m still on the fence which to take. I would set up a trust so that in the event of death it goes where I want it to. I’ve been leaning to taking the lump sum so that I can share it with my large family (6 older brothers and sisters), but they would only get a million each and after that its tough sh!+ if they blow it. My daughter would get enough to live comfortably and the bulk of what’s left when I die
I’ll spend half on women and booze.
And blow the rest.
—
Move over Hunter.
The original legislation which created the California lottery said that 50% of the revenue would be returned as prizes and 33% would be used to fund education. That leaves 17% for administration, promotion, and the cost of producing the games themselves. They were excluded from being able to get other operating expenses from taxpayers. The annuity option allows the lottery administrators to keep more than 17% to run their skimming off the top for extra income and bonuses.
With the annuity option, they purchase an annuity that will pay out the total dollar value over 26 years for any prize over 1000000 Dollars. When they first started the annuity “option” it was for 20 years. It will be 30 years before you know it. What they call the cash option is equal to whatever the annuity would cost. It varies with the rates at the time the annuity is purchased. If you figure what the jackpot is that is stated when you buy the ticket and what the annuity cost or cash value is, the difference between those values is collected at the time the tickets are sold.
They have enough money from selling the tickets to pay the actual value of the prize as stated. They just get to keep 40% of all the prizes over 1000000 dollars. They say it is so they can offer more prizes but that is b s. They need the money to feed their own wallets. It sucks to handle millions and millions of dollars of prize money and not get something out of it for yourself.
The original legislation which created the California lottery said that 50% of the revenue would be returned as prizes and 33% would be used to fund education. That leaves 17% for administration, promotion, and the cost of producing the games themselves. They were excluded from being able to get other operating expenses from taxpayers. The annuity option allows the lottery administrators to keep more than 17% to run their skimming off the top for extra income and bonuses.
With the annuity option, they purchase an annuity that will pay out the total dollar value over 26 years for any prize over 1000000 Dollars. When they first started the annuity “option” it was for 20 years. It will be 30 years before you know it. What they call the cash option is equal to whatever the annuity would cost. It varies with the rates at the time the annuity is purchased. If you figure what the jackpot is that is stated when you buy the ticket and what the annuity cost or cash value is, the difference between those values is collected at the time the tickets are sold.
They have enough money from selling the tickets to pay the actual value of the prize as stated. They just get to keep 40% of all the prizes over 1000000 dollars. They say it is so they can offer more prizes but that is b s. They need the money to feed their own wallets. It sucks to handle millions and millions of dollars of prize money and not get something out of it for yourself.
Yes. The imaginings of the mind are much cheaper than going to a movie (and better).
My madness is to play the state lotto ($5 to $10 million payout) for better odds. It works out that buying one ticket for every draw means I'll win the big prize once in 3,000 lifetimes. If I reincarnate as a dog, I guess the odds aren't in my favor anymore.
Good luck as you dream!
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